Pakistan troops fire on Indian posts in Uri

Even as Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir with top officials, Pakistani troops on Tuesday violated the border ceasefire in Uri sector.

Two days after the terror attack in Uri, Pakistani troops on Tuesday violated the border ceasefire in the same sector of Kashmir, targeting Indian Army positions with small firearms. However, there was no damage in the incident, an official said. “Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing with small arms towards Indian positions in Uri sector on Tuesday afternoon,” an Army official said. 

He said the firing from across the Line of Control took place between 1.10 pm and 1.30 pm. The official said while there were no reports of any casualty in the firing, further details of the incident were awaited. Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday again reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir with top officials, including NSA Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, in the wake of the terror attack in Uri. 

Doval and top officials of the ministries of Home and Defence, paramilitary forces and chiefs of intelligence agencies briefed Singh on the prevailing situation in the Kashmir valley as well as along the Line of Control (LoC), official sources said. The presence of the Foreign Secretary in the meeting is significant as government plans to launch a diplomatic offensive against Pakistan. Sources said the Home Minister took stock of the steps taken to check infiltration along the LoC and the international border with Pakistan. 

The Home Minister and the top officials also reviewed the security situation across the country, including Punjab which had faced two similar terror attacks early this year. Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said, “The entire world has come together to isolate Pakistan and condemn Pakistan(-backed) terrorism.” Government is planning to use a calibrated, multi-layered and strategic response to Uri attack besides planning to hand over to Pakistan evidence of the four terrorists using Pakistani-marked weapons, food, energy drinks and GPS trackers which they carried to enter Jammu and Kashmir from across the LoC. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi is in Srinagar to assess the ground situation in Kashmir. Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM had stormed an Army base in Uri in Kashmir on Sunday, killing 18 jawans.